Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Bristol Type 72 Racer

 This mid-wing monoplane racer, with its unbraced wings and retractable landing gear,  was quite advanced for 1922. It was built for the new Bristol Jupiter engine, a 400 hp  9 cylinder air-cooled radial.
With its large ailerons and other issues it was unstable and although it was entered in the French Coupe Deutsch de la Merthe races, did not compete. Despite modifications, it made only seven flights and was scrapped in 1924.



2 comments:

Billy Oleary said...

This must have been a beast to fly.
Very small tail-plane and rudder.
Hand cranked undercarriage? I assume.
Let me thank you for a great source of information,
history and visual entertainment!Stay well.

Mister G said...

I've since read the top image was a model apparently. The aircraft had large ailerons which caused the wings to flex. They modified them but there was little improvement, you;re right about the small tail! Don't you think the Gee Bee is a bit of similar in appearance?